The former U.S. official said Israel has bombed targets inside Sudan at least six times in the past two years. It has struck Sudanese ships, as well as smuggling routes in the vast desert in Sudan’s north.

“They have done it without a lot of public outcry, without any accounting,” he said. “Israel has really done this very much under the radar.”

Mr. Altohamy insisted that Sudan’s relationship with Iran is “very natural” and not directed against any other nation.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, is skeptical.

“Most of the terrorist activity that we are now faced with in the world really came out of Sudan,” said Mr. Wolf, a longtime critic of Sudan’s president, Lt. Gen. Omar Bashir.

“I would never trust Bashir,” he said.

Gen. Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes in the western province of Darfur.

Sudan’s relationship with Iran goes back more than two decades to a coup in 1989 that brought Gen. Bashir to power. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard supplied weapons to Gen. Bashir.

Iran has been one of Sudan’s few “stalwart friends,” said Jon Temin, director of the Sudan and South Sudan program at the United States Institute of Peace.

Andrew Natsios, a former U.S. special envoy to Sudan, said, “Iran’s closest ally is not Syria or Russia, but Sudan.”

About the Author

Ashish Kumar Sen is a reporter covering foreign policy and international developments for The Washington Times.

Prior to joining The Times, Mr. Sen worked for publications in Asia and the Middle East. His work has appeared in a number of publications and online news sites including the British Broadcasting Corp., Asia Times Online and Outlook magazine.